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FTSE ends its worst week since June

16.45 It's been a dreadful week for the FTSE 100, which has lost 185 points, or 2.7pc over the last five days, due to a mixture of Ukraine fears, Chinese economic wobbles and the prospect of a price war among the supermarkets.

It closes down 0.4pc at 6,528, confirming the worst weekly run since June last year.

Ex Russian finance minister: credit taps for Russia being turned off

15.45 A former confidante of Vladimir Putin, who was fired as Russian finance minister in 2011, has said the situation in the Ukraine is already starting to hit the Russian economy, and it could get worse.

Alexei Kudrin says growth in Russia "will be less than one percent, maybe even zero," if the West imposes heavy sanctions on Russia, and that "the credit taps for Russia are being turned off".

The Micex, Moscow's stock exchange, has recovered most of its gains however. It is just 0.9pc down, having been 4pc down earlier today.

US markets flat on opening

14.30 Wall Street hasn't followed Russia and Europe down in early trading - the Dow Jones is flat, having absorbed many of the Ukraine fears yesterday.

The FTSE has recovered some of those earlier losses, but is still down 0.35pc at 6,530.

14.00 The pound risks being weakened substantially if investment income from abroad continues to decline, according to Charlie Bean, a senior Bank of England official.

He said that despite the UK running a current account deficit for years, the surplus on investment income - the difference between returns that British investments abroad make and the returns that foreign investments make in Britain - had offset this.

However, Mr Bean told the Press Association that "there has been a recent deterioration in that component" and that "an adverse net position would leave us vulnerable, making it more likely for the exchange rate to fall sharply".

However, he said this is unlikely in the near future because good growth makes the pound attractive.

Co-op management 'show disdain and lack of respect' for executives

13.00 A blistering review of leadership at the Co-operative Group has been published by Lord Myners, the Labour peer who sits on the mutual's 21-strong board.

The report comes days after chief executive Euan Sutherland stepped down from Co-op, calling it "ungovernable".

First, I am deeply troubled by the disdain and lack of respect for the executive team that I have witnessed from some members of the group board. There is a phrase frequently used in Co-operative Group circles that the executive should be “on tap but not on top”.

It is now clear to me that this is a widely held but deeply flawed representation of the reality in recent years. Elected directors have simply not been up to their task of holding the executive to account.

Lord Myners

FTSE 100 on course for lowest close since February 5

12.30 Jitters over Ukraine continue to weigh on the footsie today. The index has fallen further and is now 0.77pc down at 6,503.

The last time it fell under 6,500 was February 5. Ben Martin has rounded up today's market news:

• Shares in companies with exposure to the emerging markets are under pressure, with Aberdeen Asset Management down 2.6pc and Burberry, the luxury goods retailer that is popular in China, off 2.4pc.

• Similarly, Bank of Georgia, down 7.8pc, and Russian steelmaker Evraz, off 5.3pc, have lost ground amid investor nervousness about Russia’s intervention in Ukraine.

• Supermarkets J Sainsbury, up 2.4pc, and Tesco, 0.7pc higher, have recovered from Thursday’s heavy falls, which were sparked by fears of a price war with Wm Morrison. Marks & Spencer has also rallied 1pc.

• Online retailer Boohoo.com has enjoyed a strong stock market debut. Its shares, which priced at 50p each, ran as high as 85p in morning trade.

Spanish debt at highest level since WW1

11.40 Spain's debt-to-GDP ratio hit 93.9pc at the end of last year, according to figures from the Bank of Spain, up from 86pc in the previous year, despite unpopular austerity measures.

Morrisons admits theft of personal data

The data was uploaded to a website last night, which has subsequently been closed down. Here's Morrisons' message to employees:

We are extremely sorry to inform you that there has been a theft of colleagues’ personal information, which was uploaded onto a website. As soon as we became aware of this last night we took immediate steps to ensure the data was removed from the website. It was closed down within hours of us being notified.

- This was an illegal theft of data.

- It can no longer be accessed on the website.

- We are liaising with the police and highest level of cyber crime authorities.

The information included names, addresses and bank account details of colleagues. This affects colleagues from all levels of the organisation.

Our immediate priority is the security of your financial information. We are currently working with Experian and the major banks to ensure that we provide full support and assistance to all affected colleagues. This will include support and advice around protection of your bank account.

ONS: Construction output rose 1.8pc in January, but declined at end of last year

10.45 Britain's construction sector started the year in rude health, according to this morning's official figures.

The Office for National Statistics said construction output was up 1.8pc between December and January, and 5.4pc year on year.

However, the ONS has revised the figures for the fourth quarter of 2013. It says activity fell by 0.2pc, against a previous estimate of a 0.2pc rise.

Eurozone employment returns to growth

10.15 Employment in the eurozone was in positive growth for the first time in two and a half years in the final quarter of last year, according to official data just out. Employment was up by 0.1pc in the period

&lt;noframe&gt;Twitter: Luke Baker - In case you missed it, &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&amp;q=%23eurozone" target="_blank"&gt;#eurozone&lt;/a&gt; employment just rose for the first time in three years &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&amp;q=%23CrisisOver" target="_blank"&gt;#CrisisOver&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;/noframe&gt;

Markets shrugging off trade data

09.45 Alex Edwards, head of the corporate desk at UKForex, says traders are more focused on the situation in Ukraine than today's trade data. The pound hasn't really moved against the dollar following the news.

UK trade balance printed weaker than market forecasts this morning. GBP/USD continues to find solid support at 1.66 though. Markets are currently more concerned with developments in the Russia/Ukraine situation and the data has partly been shrugged off. Should tensions worsen and as liquidity thins out, we could be in for a volatile end to the week.

The UK’s recent trade performance needs to be treated with some caution as activity in both January and December was distorted by trends in erratic items (notably commodities, aircraft and aircraft). The trade deficit suffered in January as exports were held back by a marked fall in exports of aircraft and chemicals. Meanwhile, imports in January were lifted by a marked rise in aircraft imports after they were particularly low in December

While the underlying data is not as bad as the headline data suggests, it nevertheless points to limited underlying export growth. UK export volumes of traded goods excluding oil fell by 2.4pc month-on-month in January which essentially reversed the 2.5pc gain in December. Consequently, exports of traded goods excluding erratic items were up 1.2pc in the three months to January compared to the three months to October. Overall, in value terms, UK exports of traded goods and services fell 2.2pc month-on-month in January and were down by 0.1pc in the three months to January compared to the three months to October.

Looking ahead, net trade will likely struggle to make any sustained, significant positive contribution to UK growth in the near term at least as imports are likely to continue to be underpinned by decent UK domestic demand

UK trade deficit widens

09.30 Britain certainly isn't exporting its way to recovery. We had a £2.6bn deficit in goods and services in January, according to data just released by the Office for National Statistics.

The goods deficit was £9.8bn, while we ran a £7.2bn surplus in services.

The goods deficit has remained stubborn in the last year. Here's what the ONS said on 2013:

In 2013, the deficit on trade in goods narrowed by £0.9bn to £107.8bn (annually). The level of exports increased to a record £304.7 billion in 2013, up 1.4pc from £300.5bn in 2012.

However, the rise in exports was accompanied by an increase in imports to a record £412.5bn in 2013, up 0.8pc from £409.2bn in 2012. Despite these record levels of exports and imports, annual growth in the value of trade in goods has slowed considerably since 2010 and 2011.

The series of setbacks that have hit the FTSE

A combination of persistent worries over growth in China, ongoing uncertainty about the likely outcome of the Ukraine crisis and a continuation of underwhelming corporate news against a backdrop of elevated valuations have made for heavy going for equity markets this week, and yesterday's declines left the pan-European benchmark indices at a one-month low.

The UK market also suffered a sector-specific hit as the food retailers were clobbered -6.05pc, by the profit warning from Morrisons (-12pc), which raised the very real threat of an ongoing and damaging price war. There were very few places to hide as health care equipment +0.39pc was the only FTSE sector to gain.

City news: Wetherspoons sales jump, BP's US ban lifted, Boohoo floats

08.30 It's a quiet day on the corporate calendar this morning, but good news for three companies.

• Pubs group JD Wetherspoon has reported a 9.1pc rise in first half revenues, with like-for-like sales up 5.2pc. Chairman Tim Martin has (as usual) put the boot in on the VAT disparity between pubs and supermarkets, saying "a level tax playing field will create more jobs and taxes for the country".

• BP has some rare good news in America. The US government has lifted a ban on government contracts with the company. Shares are up 0.5pc this morning.

• And boohoo.com, the online fashion retailer, is surging on its first day in trading. The company is up from 50p to 78p in its first half hour.

Government outsourcing 'needs urgent overhaul'

08.15 The Public Accounts Committee has published a scathing report on the Government's management of outsourcing contracts to companies such as G4S and Serco.

The committee says the contracts are not open to public scrutiny, meaning that the taxpayer could be paying too much. G4S and Serco are both facing hefty payouts after overcharging for criminal tagging contracts - G4S said earlier this week it would pay £109m.

Here's what the committee's chairman Margaret Hodge had to say:

We believe the government needs to urgently get its house in order so that this expenditure is properly open to public scrutiny, and that measures are put in place which will improve services and secure a better deal for the taxpayer.

Markets tumble as Ukraine fears back on the agenda

The escalating threat of military action is sending markets falling this morning. The FTSE 100 is down 0.4pc at 6,531

The Russian Micex is down 4.15pc to its lowest level since 2009, and Japan's Nikkei fell 3pc this morning.

London Capital Group's Jonathan Sudaria has this to say:

With the West warning of sanctions on Russia should that happen, and Russia already exploring retaliatory actions to such sanctions, traders fear that the situation could easily spin out of control quicker than they can liquidate their positions

It's not been a pretty week for the FTSE. Here's the index since Monday